


Jealousy

by AmyAndAmnesia



Category: Defense of the Ancients | Dota, Dota 2
Genre: Angst, Cockblocking, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Jealousy, M/M, New Year's Eve, New Year's Kiss, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2019-07-09
Packaged: 2020-06-25 06:24:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19740049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmyAndAmnesia/pseuds/AmyAndAmnesia
Summary: The end of December. The New Year is coming. Suddenly, an old friend comes to visit the Invoker and the Anti-Mage...





	Jealousy

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Ревность](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18680107) by [Амелия Шмелия (AmyAndAmnesia)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmyAndAmnesia/pseuds/%D0%90%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B8%D1%8F%20%D0%A8%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B8%D1%8F). 



> Hey guys, I've finally made it. It has come out later than expected but it's here. If there are any grammar mistakes, or something's wrong with the vocabulary, or the punctuation is flawed, please feel free to comment on it.

_“O! beware, my lord, of jealousy._

_It is the green-eyed monster_

_which doth mock the meat it feeds on.”_

_Shakespeare, "Othello"_

* * *

One morning when Magina was going to leave for work he saw an unexpected guest near his house. In the middle of the path stood a small three-colored cat, who was fluffy because of the cold outside; when Magina went out, she stared at him, green eyes wide open. There was something in her gaze that Magina did not like: it was, of course, feral but also very conscious for an animal. Magina tiptoed to the cat and grasped the problem. He sensed magic. But where from? Did some sorcerer come here and brought their cat along? Why for? Magina tensed.

“Meooow?” the cat made a surprised sound.

“What do you want?” Magina asked, frowning and looking around in hopes to spot her owner.

Of course, the cat could not answer. So Magina hissed at her to scare her away but the cat did not move, still staring at him. Magina tsked with irritation, not knowing what to do. He could not just walk away and leave the cat there but to attack her first seemed ridiculous. In that instant, Kael came out, wearing nothing but his home clothes. Magina was about to snap at how careless Kael was towards his health but when he saw the three Exorts floating around him, he had to leave it to himself: their warmth was enough to stay intact by the cold of the outside . Not that he approved magic usage in such cases…

“Why are you standing here, Magina?” Kael asked and added, gazing upon the cat, “Have you not seen a cat in your life?”

“'Tis not just a cat,” Magina argued. “When I saw her, I sensed magic.”

Kael shook his head.

“You only sense magic because of living with me. Don’t tell me you want to attack a domestic animal.”

“'Tis not your magic, Kael!” Magina insisted. “Somebody else is here…”

But Kael did not believe him.

“I cannot see anybody around, and I sure have perfect eyesight,” he said. “I think the problem is in the cat herself. She may be under a spell. Let me check it.”

With that, he made a few confident steps toward the cat. But, for some reason, the cat got startled and fled in an unknown direction. Kael turned back and smirked to Magina.

“Well, the operation failed. But your path is clear — go now or you’ll be late!”

Indeed, when the cat was gone, the sense of alien magic was gone as well. The Anti-Mage let out a relieved sigh, gave yet another hug to the Invoker, and went to work. He still had a suspicion that the cat did not run into their yard by chance but, most likely, she alone did not pose a great threat, especially to the Invoker. Soon Magina forgot about that incident.

Magina worked at a small enterprise that produced flags and pennants. Of course, it was not the kind of work he would usually do but he practically had no choice: patriotism enjoyed the greatest demand in the country, where he had eloped with the Invoker, and almost every craftsman tried their best in this sphere. He had initially agreed to count the income and expenses of the enterprise as he knew for sure how to handle money; but when he came there, he was shocked by how stupidly everything was done. He suggested the manager to make several progressive changes in the production. The manager, an old man, was impressed by Magina's prudence and listened to him. The enterprise was reformed, so, in a little less than a month, there was a significant growth in output. The manager was well-aware that he would soon have to retire and gave Magina a great reward: a promotion to his level. Though that promotion meant an increase in number of duties, there was an increase in wages, too; moreover, Magina figured out a way to simplify the record keeping so that part of his work was not really difficult to him. All the subordinates respected Magina for his common sense, his ability to give clear orders and explain things in simple terms, and for his team-building skills in challenging times.

As for the Invoker, he had his accumulated wealth; that money was enough to cover all the troublesome moves in search for a place where he and the Anti-Mage would be unknown to the public, and to buy a house in the end. He had decided right away that he was not suited for a regular job. He would not waste his time like this. He instead locked in his then-empty home library to write a book. Magina had hard time making him go out of there and eat or sleep in the bed and not at the desk. At the same time, one courier after another delivered boxes and packages with weapons, artifacts, and clothes every day. Magina had to unpack all of them alone; he was very indignant about that. But one fine day, Kael left his library with a complete and neat manuscript and settled out right to the local publishing house. The results were immediate: his book became a bestseller in the town and then outside of it. Since then he was published under the name of Carl the Shining, and his plots were based on true events of his life. Magina was his first and main reader, and he really loved the Invoker’s writing, even if his style was a tad narcissistic and full of cultural and historical references that sometimes were not easy to understand.

When they were free from work or other personal errands, they would go to the training field so as not to lose the shape, or spend time at home, talking, painting, playing music instruments, and just doing regular everyday stuff. And, of course, they made love, regardless of what time it was: they could do it in the morning, in the evening, spontaneously, and not necessarily at home. They had been leading their carefree life together for almost a year now.

Ever since the Anti-Mage could remember, he hated winter. In winter, he had to wear thick, multi-layered clothes which made it difficult to move; roads became slippery, infections were especially merciless and knocked down at the worst possible time; cold air was hard to breathe, and blood was not clotting properly. The last thing might not be as relevant as before because the Anti-Mage and the Invoker had completely gone out of business and moved as far away as possible.

However, that winter was different from others, in a sense that it was the first winter in years that the Anti-Mage did not spend hunting down mages or running errands of the Tyler Estate; instead, he was living in a quiet town with the Invoker, whom he first hated to death but now loved to no end. Through a lot of persuasion he had finally agreed that the Invoker would cast on him one of his spells every morning: the spell was designed to protect Magina from the cold and to give him enough energy for the day, and it was thanks to that small sorcery that the dark winter morning did not seem so hopeless and unbearable anymore. Magina even started to pay attention to all the pre-holiday rush that was going on in the past few days on streets and at his enterprise. He had never celebrated New Year. He was not even sure he had celebrated anything at all in his life, full of gloom, despair, and hatred. But Kael? He must have had a lot of fun, he had more than enough time for it. The Anti-Mage decided to ask him about it after work.

As Magina was busy giving orders and paying wages, time quickly went by, and before he knew it, he was already waving goodbyes and walking across the pavement. It was still daytime, shops were working, but one could already notice the oncoming twilight; some of the street-lamps were lit. While on his way, Magina stopped by a grocery store to replenish the supplies of his favorite tea. The shopping done, he hurried home.

The Anti-Mage and the Invoker lived not far from the center of the town but their house was separate from others, and they had no immediate neighbors. They had chosen such a house on purpose so that they would be safe from prying eyes from across the street.

From a distance, Magina could already spot lights of different colors on the trees near home; it surprised him.

‘Did Kael do that?’

But, as he drew closer, his surprise was replaced by shock, and then — by hostility. Indeed, on the path under the trees stood Kael, wrapped in his regular white robes, but the lights were operated not by him, rather by a tall and dark figure with a mask on their face. Magina realized who that was right away.

‘What the devil?!’

He clenched his fists and blinked right to the garden gate, ready to fight. Kael, however, greeted him as if nothing was amiss and explained that the cat from the morning belonged to that man (and was sitting on his shoulder, at the moment), whose name was Rubick. Magina was aware of that so he just nodded for Kael to continue. Rubick arrived in the town on business: the local university asked him to give a few lectures. He needed a place to stay but all the hotels were packed with guests on the eve of holidays. For the Invoker had known Rubick since the Academy, he decided to offer him a bed in the empty room. Magina did not mind, did he?

Magina was perplexed. He had not heard Kael mentioning Rubick before, and now he was told that they had been studying together. On the other hand, Kael never named his former classmates, preferring replacements such as ‘ignoramus’, ‘a clown with a scepter’, ‘the only decent rival’, ‘one gifted female student’ et cetera. Perhaps Rubick was lost somewhere amongst them. Their acquaintance made sense because both Rubick and Kael were well-known and held a high status within the magic community but still, Magina could not help wondering. Most of all, he was struck by the fact that Rubick was the same age with the Invoker.

Rubick examined Magina — though it was impossible to guess his facial expression due to the mask — and held out his hand.

“Anti-Mage! Your name aside, you're not half bad-”

“I don’t need your judgment, you masked wizard,” he cut him off, reluctantly shaking his hand, “here they know me as Magina.”

“If you’re not the Anti-Mage, then I’m safe, huh?” Rubick chuckled.

Magina frowned. He did not know how to talk to someone he had been hunting before, albeit on the orders from above rather than on his own will. He might not be working for the Tyler Estate anymore, and his past glory of the magic destroyer had been left behind, but he could not simply trust the notorious mage. He looked sideways at Kael: he was completely relaxed and did not even invoke his spheres in case he would have to defend himself. It meant that, for some reason, he trusted Rubick, and Magina had to consider Kael’s opinion, whether he liked it or not.

That was why he finally said, “Frankly speaking, I cannot guarantee that. I do not trust you but I see that Kael does. So I’m ready to close my eyes at all of your deeds until they pose a threat to this town or this country, or to Kael and me, specifically. The rest of the world bothers me not but you do understand where rule breakers will go, right?”

“I assurrre you, I have no evil intentions,” Rubick replied, calmly. “I was called here not as the Grand Magus but as a wandering scientist. I am not going to attack you, Kael, or somebody else at all. But I have to say, I will not tolerrrate attacks on me. Then I shall use my power to the fullest extent. Do you accept the terms?”

“I can accept it,” Magina agreed and, as he turned to Kael, said, “Fine. I think he can stay, for the time being.”

The Invoker, who had been silent up to that moment, walked towards Magina and, as he gently put his hand on Magina’s shoulders, replied,

“Thank you, Magina. I am sorry… I was unaware that you were familiar to each other. Had I known it, I would not have made such a rash decision.”

“I should have told you-” Magina apologized, putting his hand on Kael’s, but Kael interrupted him, softly.

“No, that is me who should be more precise in future when mentioning old acquaintances…”

Meanwhile, Rubick was watching them, wonder-struck. Apparently, he was unfazed by being talked about in the third person: his eyes were fixed on the interlocked fingers. He suddenly laughed.

“A verrry strange coincidence!” he said. “As I meet my former best friend, I meet my former rival as well, for they are now inseparable! This is amazing, really…”

“A former _best_ friend?” Magina asked Kael, suspiciously.

“Exactly,” he confirmed, as his hands slid down and wrapped around the Anti-Mage’s waist. “Being the most brilliant students of the Academy, we were doomed to either be rivals in everything, or sacrifice a small part of our pride and become allies.”

“I see…” Magina mused. _Well, it had its own logic..._

Kael’s embrace was soothing Magina; at the same time, he did not like doing it in front of a bystander, and not just someone else but Rubick. He just stood there and stared at them, unashamedly, probably grinning under his mask. Of course, you do not see it every day: the Invoker and the Anti-Mage, the two polar opposites, the sworn enemies in the past, were now hugging at the doorstep of their home in a small no-name town!

In an instant, Magina was furious at the thought that the mage could just laugh at them now but then he might spread foul rumors that would endanger their security, so he spoke to Rubick again.

“By the way, keep that in mind when you leave the town: if any word about how we live and where we live escapes your mouth, I’ll give you a drubbing you’ll not soon forget!”

“Wow, very kind of you!” Rubick chuckled in such a way that made Magina cringe.

Kael interfered, first speaking to Magina:

“Magina, please. I see your point but do not be so rude with my guest. After all, you have just concluded a peace treaty. I will take the full responsibility for our safety.”

Then he turned to Rubick.

“Rubick… I am glad to see you but Magina has a point: your judgment is not welcome here, as much as spreading rumors about us. As a confidant for your secrets, I hope you will do the same favor for us. I insist that you do not risk my trust.”

Rubick appeared to be very comfortable with himself, even when treated like that; he said, merrily:

“I underrrstand! My lips are sealed!”

“Let us come in, then”, Kael sighed as he opened the door.

* * *

During the dinner, Rubick and Kael talked a lot, and their conversation turned out to be a revelation for Magina. Sometimes he heard Rubick telling the stories that Kael had already told him and nodded with satisfaction but there were such stories of the past that Magina had no idea about; each time, he had to give the Invoker a puzzled look. Why had he not shared it with him? Had he already got problems with memory because of his age?

The spirit between Magina and Rubick was eased down thanks to the conversation but when the topic changed from simple memories and stories about this and that to magic-science discourse, which Magina knew little about, he had to take the back seat. Each time he tried to put in his two cents, he turned out to have misunderstood the vein of the discussion or to have confused something, and Kael along with Rubick would explain him with fervor what exactly he had been wrong about. But in the process of explanation they would always shift to another topic and get absorbed into the argument with each other. Magina ended up being silent and barely listening to them, all in his thoughts. He took his time to examine Rubick’s face, now unmasked: he had a dark complexion, a sharp nose and chin, a wide playful smile on his lips, and glowing green eyes. Perhaps they were glowing due to Rubick’s deep magic corruption but who knows.

As Magina kept silent, he finished sooner and was now looking at the empty plate, not sure whether he should stay or go: it seemed like Kael and Rubick had long since forgotten about his presence. For the Anti-Mage, it was unusual to see Kael in such a peaceful state around somebody else aside from him. The Invoker actually had no friends in the town due to his condescending manners and unwillingness to make contact. It was a rare occasion when somebody deserved his complete trust, and Magina had thought, up to that moment, that he was the only exception among the living people. But all of a sudden, Rubick turned out to be such an exception, too.

‘Former best friends, huh? I wouldn't say _former_...’

Eventually, Magina made up his mind: he would leave the conversation because he was too tired and had no opportunity to sit around till night. When he stood up, the Invoker glanced in his direction but said nothing, only gave a brief nod. On his way upstairs, Magina saw in his peripheral that he was followed by Lex — that was the name of Rubick's cat. She slipped into the bedroom right after him but Magina, having a good reaction, caught her running and returned her to the corridor, saying,

“'Tis not your territory, insolent creature!”

He slammed the door shut; offended meowing could be heard right after that but Magina paid no attention. There was no way he would let a spy into his room! A little earlier, Rubick revealed to him that the cat possessed the power of telepathy and was able to share with him not only her own emotions but emotions of other creatures that were around her as well. But being a regular cat with instincts instead of a consciousness, she was unable to control her magic. She simply shared everything she felt with someone she trusted the most — with the owner.

Magina changed to night clothes, turned off the lights, and lay on the bed. He was tossing and turning, the feeling of the Invoker's absence too sharp; they had slept separately before, and Magina was able to fall asleep alone, but now he was worried for some reason.

An hour later or so, slumber finally kicked in, and all the thoughts about work and Kael, who was sitting downstairs with his former best friend, got mixed up and lost their sense. But at the very instant he fell asleep, he heard Kael walk into the room and sat up immediately.

Kael snuggled up to him under the blanket, and Magina, as usual, locked him in the embrace. No matter how cozy the covers were, nothing could replace the comfort the Invoker's presence gave him. Kael was perturbed by his own thoughts, and there was nothing unnatural about it so Magina shrugged it off.

But then Kael broke the silence.

“Interesting… we have not seen each other for many years but still-”

He stopped short and shook his head. Magina squinted his eyes at him. Kael turned to him to caress his hair.

“Tell me what you did today. Did you see anything interesting in the town?”

“Oh, thanks for the reminder!” Magina perked up. “All my coworkers are talking about the holidays so I want to ask: have you ever celebrated the New Year?”

The Invoker put his hand on the chin and mused, “Yes, long ago… years come and go like minutes for me so it naturally makes no sense to celebrate every such ‘minute’. I only do so if I am invited to someone else’s celebration. But you aren't a big fan of parties, are you?”

“True,” Magina agreed, “but I didn’t really have the time for such idleness and now, well…”

“You have it thanks to me,” Invoker finished, smirking.

“Yeah, right,” Magina smiled. “I just thought it’d be fun, to celebrate it with you… with presents and all…”

“Presents, you said? I can present you with the best thing in the world!” Kael stated.

The Anti-Mage asked incredulously, “What is that?”

“Longevity!” Kael declared, and Magina near groaned at that word.

“No, no!” He shook his head, abruptly, as he moved away from Kael. “When I said ‘presents’, I meant something… smaller, not so significant…”

“Magina, we will have an eternity for small presents if only you agree!” Kael tried to persuade him.

Magina remained adamant.

“I’ve already told thee, Kael: I cannot do that. My whole existence will be disgraced with vile sorcery.”

“Is it a disgrace to live with me?” Kael asked, frowning.

That was a tricky question, and Magina did not know how to answer it despite all the time they had spent together.

“'Tis a different thing…” he tried to explain but the Invoker was unwilling to listen.

“Only a stubborn fool like you can refuse such a gift!” he said.

Magina sighed, heavily. This topic, again. And he reached a deadlock, again. He tried to sound as firm and confident as possible, when he said:

“Kael, ‘no’ means ‘no’. I do not want to talk about it. Good night.”

Then he turned away and pretended to be sleeping. Kael did not reply but Magina could sense his obvious frustration. He did not view that incident as something serious, albeit feeling uncomfortable after the conversation. It was no quarrel, merely a disagreement. He was sure that Kael would completely forget about it the next day.

* * *

The next morning, Magina found himself alone in the bed. Only the slightly pushed down pillow indicated the Invoker’s recent presence.

'Strange, he doesn’t wake up earlier than me… normally.'

Magina sat up, scratching his head. Yawning and stretching, he stood up, took his clothes from the wardrobe, and walked out the room. In the corridor, he heard piano sounds coming from the library.

'So he felt inspired, huh?' he thought with a smile.

He went downstairs and found one of Kael’s Forged Spirits sweeping the floor in the living room, while the other was firing the furnace in the kitchen. The Invoker had been extremely reluctant when suggested to charge his beloved ‘allies from naught’ with such ‘vulgar’ duties, he had insisted on hiring domestic servants. Magina had remained resolute in his opposition to letting strangers live in their home; moreover, he was used to keeping the house without servants. Ultimately, the Invoker realized that it would be better to teach the Spirits something aside from fighting than to dance around with the besom and fumble with the firewood on his own. And Magina managed to persuade him that spitting fire was vulgar as well.

Having washed and got dressed, he decided to go back and drop in the library. But when he opened the door, he found out that Kael was not alone. His mood changed right away, and not for the better.

'Oh, how could I forget?' Magina thought in irritation.

While the Invoker was brilliantly performing classic music, Rubick was sitting nearby and listening to it, attentively; his face beamed with the same wide smile that Magina had seen the day before. When the music was over, Rubick jumped up to his feet and applauded.

“Brrravo, Arsenal Magus!” he exclaimed. “You have indeed learned to create trrruly beautiful things not only in the world of magic but in the world of sounds as well!”

Kael nodded to him with an air of importance and stated, “I am myself beautiful.”

He suddenly burst out in laughter along with Rubick. Meanwhile, Magina was still standing at the door and watching them in puzzlement.

Kael turned his head towards him and greeted, “Good morning, Magina! I was demonstrating Rubick one of my recent writings. Did we wake you up?”

“No, no, I woke up myself,” Magina waved off, somehow offended by the ‘we’.

“You know what’s weird?” Rubick said half indignant half excited. “Yesterday I went to bed so late, I was so tired after the trip, and I was tight asleep but some mysterious forces woke me up at such an early hour, and I don’t even feel sleep-deprived!”

Magina was completely uninterested; he expected the Invoker, who had listened to Rubick with a poker face, to say ‘such trivial matters bother me not’ or something in the vein of it. But the Invoker suddenly agreed.

“I had the same. Apparently, the two grand mages cannot stay dormant in the presence of each other…”

“There’s only one Grand Magus!” Rubick corrected and wagged his finger at him.

“Oh, stop it,” Kael smirked. “We may both have been the best in the Academy but I am better in comparison to you, and no titles are able to change this fact.”

“The Insubstantial Eleven do not think so,” Rubick mentioned casually.

“What are your Insubstantial Eleven? I am my own creator and my own judge!” The Invoker stated, not embarrassed in the slightest.

“And now you’ll be telling me your lovely story about how you made the first point from which was begat a world,” Rubick chuckled.

“You doubt that it’s true?” the Invoker asked, and it was unclear whether he was still kidding around or saying it seriously but in an instant, Rubick elbowed him, and they laughed together.

Watching them, Magina felt a little betrayed. Such banter was a part of his relationship with Kael; he could not even imagine Kael doing that with somebody else. Magina could not but feel sparkles in the air between those two. He did not notice how he leaned on the door and squeezed the doorknob, tensing. But the Invoker did notice and waltzed to him to pull him into an embrace.

“What is on your mind?” he asked.

“Nothing…” Magina murmured and added, “I’d better go and have a breakfast, the work starts soon.”

“Fine.” The Invoker let go of him. “I shall join you a bit later.”

The Anti-Mage nodded at him and went out of the library.

When he was in the corridor, he heard Rubick say, “Hey, Invoker! Tell me how did you train your spirits so well? And how do you exactly invoke them? I would love to have such little helpers, too!”

'He’s not telling it to thee!' Magina snorted, as he was walking away from the library, his steps slow and heavy. To his disappointment, the Invoker started speaking in a brisk manner, and it did not sound like he was lecturing the other man or ranting against his question. It seemed to be the opposite, as if he did agree to reveal his secrets. Another burst of laughter was heard, and Magina tsked, exasperatedly, quickening his pace. He encountered Lex downstairs: she ran up to him and nuzzled his legs with plaintive meows and eyes wide open.

“Hey, didn’t your owner feed you?” Magina sighed, bending to the cat.

Lex got up on her hind legs and sniffed his palms. At first Magina jerked them away from her, frowning, but then he melted and picked the cat up in arms; Lex closed her eyes and purred.

'Well, sometimes pets can be better than their owners,' Magina concluded, petting the cat and scratching her behind the ear.

Lex had magic aura that felt very similar to that one of Rubick’s, and her presence made Magina remember about the past times and his life before the Invoker helped him defeat the Dead God. The Dead God was, in fact, the main, the true enemy of the Anti-Mage, and the Invoker had to put much effort into convincing him in it and therefore leading to leave his hunt for mages. But, even on that condition, Magina still remained the Anti-Mage: he did not welcome the magic society and most certainly did not wish to deal with sorcerers. Kael was the only exception, a drastic and unheard of one. As strange as it may sound, he did not want to fraternize with other mages, too. He was outstanding, and nobody was a match for him.

_…except for Rubick?_

Magina violently shook his head, and Lex gave him a surprised look.

“Let’s go”, he said and put her back on the floor.

Lex seemed to have understood his words; with her tail up, she galloped into the kitchen. Magina followed her and saw that there were three full plates on the table. _Three…_ Magina tried to ignore another unsettling detail and figure out what to give the cat as a treat. But that problem was solved when the cat jumped on the chair, where Rubick had sat the day before, snapped a piece of meat, and fled. Magina could not but gloat a little over it. It served Rubick right for starving his cat and dragging her around in winter! Only vile sorcerers could treat animals like this! Enjoying himself, Magina sat down at the table and started his breakfast.

Just like the Invoker promised, he appeared downstairs very soon to join Magina, followed by Rubick. Only, Rubick took Kael’s usual seat, and Kael… Kael looked into his plate, slightly confused.

“Strange… where did the meat go?” he wondered.

Rubick grabbed his head.

“Awww, I’m awfully sorry!” he exclaimed. “It must’ve been my little villain who stole it… here, take my plate!”

With this, he swapped his plate with the Invoker’s. Magina stared at them, deeply discouraged, and the following satisfied reply completely left him at a loss.

“Why, thank you! That is very nice of you!”

Rubick chuckled.

“It seems like my pet has inherited my bad habits.”

“Any hungry cat would do that, Rubick,” Magina retorted, “and this clearly has nothing to do with thine bad influence.”

“Anti-Mage, you’re no fun,” Rubick complained. “‘Twas a joke.”

“Can't see anything funny about that,” Magina said.

“Aw, you never change.” Rubick waved a dismissive hand.

The Invoker was studying them both impassively; finally, he addressed a question to Rubick.

“How do you like the new students?”

“They’re surprisingly active,” Rubick replied, “especially when compared to my previous class. Those would never ask questions, they only listened to me without a murmur and wrote down everything I was saying. But working with these is a pleasure! You know, I just love it when students ask me questions, when they try to put a critical mind into everything, when…”

The Anti-Mage did not listen to him further. He had to hurry in order to get to the work in time, so he sped up and put the dirty plate away from the table. Walking out in the foyer, he found Lex sitting there, still chewing the meat and purring out of joy.

'She shouldn’t have done it,' a disappointed thought crossed Magina’s mind.

He was about to put his coat on when he was struck by a feeling that he forgot something important; he froze in uncertainty. Then it hit him, and he darted back to the kitchen. Kael and Rubick were still at the table, more talking than eating. Magina came up to Kael and put a gentle hand on his shoulder, saying, “Kael, the spell…”

“Oh, sure!” the Invoker remembered, leaving the conversation aside, and invoked three orbs: _Wex, Exort, Exort…_ by all means Magina was no expert but he had enough time to learn: the spell that the Invoker usually cast on him had a different formula. And this… this was something dangerous!

“Hold on!” he cried, springing off from Kael when he was about to use his magic. “Wrong combination!”

“Really?” Kael was genuinely surprised. Then he raised his eyes to the orbs and grabbed on his forehead in vexation. “Did I miscast?! The errant cosmos works against me!”

With this, he changed the combination to ‘Wex-Wex-Exort’ to get the right spell and walked closer to Magina. Only, he cast the spell on him with a simple wave of hand, not touching or kissing him like usual. Obviously, he did not want to do something so personal in front of Rubick, and Magina did not enjoy being watched, too, but on the other hand… who on Earth would even care about Rubick’s opinion?! It was because he sat around and distracted Kael with his chitchat that Kael nearly dropped a meteorite down on the house! Why, why did the Invoker let it go, why didn't he even resent his shattered concentration? Why did he just take his seat and went on chatting with Rubick as if nothing was amiss?

‘Since when am I overthinking that much?’ Magina grimaced, as he returned to the foyer. ‘This mage is just a good acquaintance of Kael’s, and Kael is glad to finally spend time with someone else. Honestly, staying at home all the time alone cannot be good for anyone…’

Only, those thoughts did not calm his spirit; rather, they made him feel guilty for his aggression in response to Kael and Rubick’s talking to each other. At the same time, the aggression would not leave him, and by the time he came to the workplace, he was torn by emotion and in a dark mood. Even the Alacrity spell could not change it — it only helped him being efficient in his work.

Nobody noticed his uneasy state though: he had never been much of a conversationalist or a sunny person, he was more of a professional in keeping emotions to himself. He even finished working with documents earlier than usual and decided to take a stroll to the workshop, just to check on how things were going there. He was satisfied with the view: the place was running like clockwork, everybody was busy with their own duty. Before Magina joined the enterprise, there was no notion of ‘division of labor’ but currently nobody could imagine that the work could have been performed in some other way. The number of employees was barely a dozen but they were of different races — humans, satyrs, and trolls. Such diversity was perfectly normal for the town, for its citizens were not born there, they rather arrived in search for shelter or luck. Magina even was in good terms with one of the satyrs as she was the one to bring him daily reports. Her name was Elke. For a moment, she got distracted from her work, noticing Magina from afar; he gave her a signal to come over.

“Good afternoon!” she greeted him. “Any new orders for us?”

“Actually, no,” Magina shook his head, “I just finished working on the accounts and had nothing else to do. Thought that I might check on how everything’s going on here.”

“Everything is fine!” the satyr replied in a chipper voice. “We’re now finishing an extra set of tapestries with Frostivus tree patterns, just like you asked!”

“That’s good news,” Magina said. “What about pennants for the Independence Day?”

“Sent to the market!” Elke reported.

Magina thanked her for the report and was just about to leave when he got the urge to ask.

“Elke… you have a family, right?”

“Yes, I have a brother and a sister, why?”

“What do you usually do on the New Year?” Magina wondered, trying to sound casually.

“Well, we all gather at the table for a holiday dinner, give gifts to each other…” Elke spoke but Magina could not help asking another question.

“What kind of gifts?”

“Usually I knit mittens or socks with a nice pattern, then I fill them up with different sweets. I can’t afford much but I put my heart into it.”

Magina tilted his head in puzzlement.

“How strange! Why socks?”

Elke laughed.

“No idea! It’s just a tradition. But why are you suddenly so interested in our customs?”

“I just…”

Magina stopped short, not knowing whether he should tell Elke that he had no idea how to celebrate the New Year. He left it unsaid and went for another thing.

“I don’t know what I should give one important person as a gift so I want to ask you for advice. I mean, where do you buy all these sweets?”

“Hmm, it depends,” Elke replied, “it’s either the market, or that store at the Third Street. But you said ‘important person’… I would recommend you going to the jewelry store three blocks away from here.”

“Thank you for the advice, Elke,” Magina nodded to her. “Well, I should let you get back to work now!”

He waved a goodbye to her and returned to his office, brooding over the suggestion. He had visited the store before and was not impressed by the assortment so he doubted that local jewelers had something worthy enough for Kael. Now Magina was scratching his head over what could make his rich, picky partner happier. Books? He had his own library! Stationery? Too ordinary; Kael bought it every day. Art materials? The courier brought fresh paints only a week ago. Weapons? First of all, it had no practical use aside from training, and second, Kael was still a mage, he relied upon the power of mind rather than blade. Thus, a bag full of sweets seemed appropriate: there always was a lack of them at home, and Magina knew Kael’s tastes perfectly well.

However, when he came to such a conclusion, he was struck by a sudden question: was it worth it? What if Kael would not even remember about the holiday? After all, they had not agreed to celebrate and were again on the verge of fight over the longevity spell. But then a quick and nonchalant answer appeared on his mind: he would simply leave the sweets to himself and give nothing to the Invoker.

The doubt made him put off the efforts on finding the gift to another day. He needed to talk to Kael about it again. Maybe Rubick would also give them a good idea, who knows?

* * *

But when Magina came home, he met neither Kael nor Rubick; only the cat was dozing on the couch in the living room. He checked the upper floor but it was empty, too.

'Kael must've gotten something to deal with in the town,’ Magina shrugged, ‘but then again, how did we not meet each other there?’

As for Rubick, his whereabouts did not concern the Anti-Mage. Well, until a realization came upon him that Kael could be somewhere together with him.

‘Even if it’s true, why should it bother me?’ Magina tried to calm down. ‘I, too, spend time with other people. It’s only good for Kael to go outside. Left to his own devices, he would be sitting in the library for half a year.’

But his heart did not listen to his mind. He even became worried that Rubick might somehow hurt Kael: Magina was well aware of his ability to steal spells and use them against their owners. But Kael was smart enough to not just give away his magic, and he, apparently, knew Rubick better than the Anti-Mage did. Without mimicry, Rubick had practically nothing that would possibly help him defeat the Invoker. At that, Magina’s anxiety ceased but only to be replaced by resentment: he remembered how Kael had not paid attention to him the whole morning. No, actually, he had but… it had not been the same! 

Magina let out a defeated sigh and sat down on the couch, next to Lex. She lifted her head and cast a sleepy glance at him.

"Okay, you telepath," he grunted because he was not ready to admit that he was seriously talking to a cat, "tell me, where is your owner now and who is with him?"

Lex was looking at him a couple more seconds, and then she opened her mouth wide in a long yawn and lay her head back on the paws. So she could not speak. Or she could but was not going to share such information with Magina. Or her abilities did not work like Magina had thought. Damn these mages. Magina headed over the kitchen: it was his turn to cook the dinner, if he remembered it right.

In the middle of cooking though, he heard the front door open and let someone’s ringing laughter in. He turned around and saw in the doorway that the Invoker and Rubick were here, and both of them were covered in mud and snow from head to foot. And while it befitted Rubick to get in trouble, for Kael it was… what happened to Kael?! Not even the most sanguinary battles left a mark on his mantle, he was _the Invoker_ , after all! But now Magina saw the tips of his hair black from soot, and his robes were dirty and torn… Magina did not miss a beat to blink from the cooking stand to the doorway.

"What happened?" he asked, the concern very clear in his voice.

"We were playing snowballs!" Rubick exclaimed with an excited jump.

“I’m asking this seriously,” Magina grumbled.

Kael lifted his head and said, "This is true… only, those were not snowballs — rather, meatballs."

He laughed at those words but there was nothing funny in it for Magina. He pulled Kael away and asked in a low voice, "Did you really show him how to cast the meteor? Why?!"

"Why? I was bored." The Invoker shrugged. "Worry not; he cannot remember someone else's spell for too long."

“But how did he make such a mess of you?!” The Anti-Mage was still indignant.

“Oh, well, you must be aware that he is the famous duelist,” Kael chuckled and took his cape off. “I have to admit, it has been even a little difficult but I am the winner, after all…”

“Hey, are you talking about me?” Rubick wondered, poking his head right into the tiny space between Kael and Magina and thus separating them. While they were murmuring, he had already got rid of his outdoor clothes and mask, thanks to which his face remained the only clean part of his body.

“No,” Magina cut him short.

“Yes,” Kael replied simultaneously with Magina, as he threw his cape aside.

Rubick giggled again.

“Indeed, the opposites attract!” he said before retreating to the living room, where he ran into his cat and squealed in delight.

'What a moron,' Magina thought with irritation. Kael trudged on to the bathroom but on his way he cast a glance on the kitchen and invoked one of his Spirits to finish the cooking.

“But I…” Magina tried to object but Kael stopped him with a wave of hand, not even turning around.

He locked up in the bathroom and would not leave it for an hour, if not longer. During all that time, Rubick was jumping and running around the living room along with Lex; the state of his clothes left much to be desired but he seemed to make little account of it. The Forged Spirit prepared the dinner very soon so Magina had nothing else to do aside from sitting around and waiting for Kael to eat together with him. When Kael finally reappeared, clean, in fresh clothes, and with slightly wet hair, Rubick hurried to occupy the bathroom so Magina and Kael were left alone. They both started eating without Rubick. Magina remembered that he wanted to bring up the New Year topic again so he asked Kael about it, only now he chose his words wisely, and the moral dilemma of purity and longevity did not appear.

“Right…” the Invoker mused. “Well, I am familiar with quite a few traditions. We can, in fact, borrow a way of celebration from any country, just tell me what you exactly prefer.”

“I prefer creating something on my own,” Magina replied without hesitation.

“I had zero doubt that you would answer like this,” Kael hummed. “But do you know exactly what you want? You’ve never had a holiday before. It would be much simpler to follow a foreign — but not alien — tradition on this day.”

Magina put his hand on Kael’s and gave him a faint smile.

“Then we can just follow the tradition that this town will offer,” he said. “I know one thing for sure: I want to spend the whole day with you.”

Kael smiled in response and intertwined their fingers.

"Well, this goes without saying," he said.

In that instant, Rubick went out of the bathroom, clean and in a different set of clothes, and galloped into the kitchen where his meal had been waiting for him, though now it was cool. However, it did not bother him much because he was too hungry. Hardly had he appeared, when the Invoker’s whole attention was again on him, and the vexed Magina set his plate aside and walked away. This time, Kael did not even notice. He was too busy talking.

Even later, when he went to bed together with Magina, and they were doing their usual ritual of small talk about the day, he was only saying: Rubick, Rubick, Rubick… or at least Magina heard that. The very sound of his name unnerved Magina but he did not say anything about it, and Kael fell asleep, oblivious to the fact that Magina was agonizing over intrusive thoughts and could not sleep a wink the whole hour after their conversation.

* * *

People often referred to jealousy as ‘the green-eyed monster’; Magina could not exactly remember where that expression came from but ever since Rubick had stayed over, it became especially relevant. Not only was Rubick green-eyed, he also brought out the worst in Magina with his treacherous smile.

He finally admitted that he was jealous of Kael on the third day of Rubick’s stay in their home. That day, he had not seen Kael since the early morning and till the late evening. Kael went off for Rubick’s classes, and after that, they both went to visit a professor only to be dragged into some science research. Magina tied himself up in knots: he was hanging around all evening, trying to do something, and then he dropped that hopeless idea and lay down on the couch in the living room. Lex came running to leap onto him and lie down on his abdomen. Magina winced at her magic aura but did not shoo her; instead, he went on automatically petting her, while his mind sank in anxiety. He found it strange that the witch cat displayed so much affection towards him but avoided Kael.

Magina had stayed like this for two hours in a row, if not longer, until he got hungry; then he had to carefully pull the sleeping cat off him and place her on the couch. Lex opened her eyes, slightly, to cast a puzzled look on him but very soon she curled up and fell asleep again.

Kael came back tired and would not talk to Magina much, only tell him about that whole situation with the professor when the two of them were alone in the library, and Kael was trying to complete his daily minimum of written words. Afterwards Magina left him alone for what felt like a couple minutes only to see upon his return, that Kael had already fallen asleep on the loveseat. Magina did not bother him, even though he was frustrated to sleep alone that night.

Looking at Kael, Magina felt isolated from him, as if he were out of reach again. He pondered over how much the Invoker had in common with Rubick. They had not seen each other in a while but they clicked anyway. They liked the same artworks, they had matching hobbies, they had common acquaintances, they were equally educated, had similar life experience and way of thinking, and Kael shared way more memories with Rubick than he did with Magina. They both were mages, both strikingly powerful. But the most important thing was that they were both long-livers. Of the same age and the same generation.

Magina’s years were nothing compared to years designated for the Invoker and Rubick. Yet he refused the Invoker’s offer to prolong his existence.

_'Only a stubborn fool like you can refuse such a gift!'_

Magina’s heart sank. He had never wanted to live hundreds of years. He found it reckless, insane even. His former faith had been broken enough to let magic coexist with him but not enough to entrust his whole being to it, to cause irreversible changes in his body and soul. If he said ‘yes’ to the Sempiternal Cantrap, he would have to watch his friends and colleagues, everybody he knew, grow old and die. Everybody except the Invoker. But what if the Invoker left him? What if they became enemies again? What would be this eternity for, if everyone he cared about were to die much earlier than him?

But that was how the Invoker lived: he had long since rejected affection towards other people so he would not have to mourn again. At the same time, he did not fit into the community of immortal celestials; he was a human, after all, albeit of higher rank and with wonderful powers. Perhaps he had become so cold and ruthless because he had not found a place for himself. Until he met the Anti-Mage. What if… what if Kael offered him immortality exactly because he did not want to lose him, like he had lost other people? But Magina had refused so many times! Now, when Rubick came into the picture, this refusal cast an unflattering light on Magina. What if the Invoker left him because of his mortality? What if he looked at Magina and then at Rubick, compared them, and thought, ‘Actually, Rubick is a better match for me’? Heck, Magina did not even have any serious advantage, except for, maybe, good looks, but what did beauty mean if it were to fade in twenty years?! Moreover, he might not have found Rubick handsome but what if the Invoker had different preferences?

All these thoughts had been tormenting Magina the whole day and a half of the night so he barely managed to get up in the morning; ironically, he did not oversleep and woke up even earlier than usual. He almost immediately hated this day. He would walk out of the room to see the Invoker together with Rubick, again; the three of them would have a breakfast at the same table, again, and Magina would not catch up with the conversation because he was suddenly too stupid for that; Kael would not pay attention to him, again; and Magina would leave for work and stay oblivious to what Kael and Rubick were doing in his absence, again!

With that attitude, Magina went downstairs to wash and get dressed. But when he entered the living room he found Kael being alone. He was standing there at the bookcase, sorting the sachets with healing herbs and mana-recovering pastilles; he was dressed in a thin green tunic and light linen pants. Hearing the footsteps, he turned around to Magina and greeted, “Good morning.”

“Morning…” Magina replied, absently, his eyes roaming the room. “Where is Rubick?”

Kael replied, “He was called to the university to help but I know not what the issue is.”

“Okay,” Magina nodded. “How long will that be?”

“Given the classes, I suppose it’ll be the whole day.”

There Kael glanced upon Magina and snorted.

“I can see your excitement.”

Indeed, Magina could not help a wide smile, forming on his face, when he was listening to Kael. Therefore, it was futile to deny that he was glad about Rubick’s leaving. He was finally alone with Kael! He did not miss a beat when he blinked behind Kael to wrap his arms around his waist and purr into his ear, “Of course I’m excited! Are you not?”

The sensation of the Invoker’s warm body flooded him with delight; his hands slid down Kael’s torso on their own accord. Kael shuddered and took his eyes off the bookcase. He put his hands on Magina’s hands, and Magina half-expected him to take them away. Much to his pleasure, the Invoker did not do that; he instead looked behind and gave him a smirk.

"I am. But what is it? You dare fight me again?"

His gaze made it clear to Magina, that Kael was in a frisky mood, and that alone was enough to turn him on. Even the sleep deprivation and painful thoughts from the night had to take the back seat as those white eyes were now full of desire! Kael turned and locked Magina in his embrace; now that their bodies were tightly pressed to each other, Magina could feel through the fabric of his pants that Kael was getting hard as well. Kael fisted Magina’s hair and drew closer to his lips to give him a short kiss; Magina tried to take the initiative but Kael would not let him, turning every kiss into some sort of a bite and teasing Magina. Finally, when Magina could not take it anymore, Kael gave him a proper kiss, a passionate and tender one, and a realization came upon him, that they had not kissed like that since Rubick had stayed over. His toes clenched, his heart sped up.

When they broke the kiss, Magina panted, barely managing a question, “What magic is this?”

"This is my unerring proficiency!" Kael took his chance to tease Magina. “Nigh unto death!”

“Nah-ah, I fear thee not!” Magina laughed and made Kael turn around together with him; he did not protest though — he leaned against the wall and pulled Magina closer.

Magina gave Kael a kiss, at first harsh and forceful, but eventually it became softer and gentler: he strived to savor every single moment, every single touch. The Invoker was slowly running his hands all over Magina's back, going lower and lower, touching his hips but dragging away at the last moment. He knew how Magina reacted at such tricks so he was playing dirty. But Magina was no pushover. He worked his way down to the neck and licked his skin, while his hands were crawling up under Kael’s shirt. The Invoker could not but arch his back and surrender to the touch with a soft moan. Magina went on, giving him deliberately slow kisses on the neck and travelling across his torso with the fingers, going up to the chest and down to the waist again and again. Kael squeezed his shoulders, insanely pleased; finally, when he could not take it anymore, he quickly moved away from Magina… only to push him right onto the carpet. He ended up on top of Magina and drew so close to his face that their noses met; he said, his breathing burning Magina’s lips, “Methinks you wanted that.”

Magina scoffed at it and turned over to get the upper hand but only for the Invoker to do the same; after having a playful fight for a while, they again threw themselves into kisses and touches. By the time Kael was unbuckling Magina’s belt, and Magina was pulling Kael’s shirt off, the arousal was already hurting and unbearable. Kael dived his hand into Magina’s pants and gripped on the cock; it earned him a moan from Magina. But suddenly…

Somebody went into the house, slamming the door shut, and Lex meowed in excitement, rushing from the kitchen. A softened voice was heard, "Look at that, the kitten missed me!"

Then there was a sound of somebody walking nearer, which threw Kael and Magina into silent terror. They exchanged looks before Kael hurried off Magina and put on his shirt, while asking in a loud voice, “Rubick, why are you so early?!”

Magina, too, jumped to his feet and got dressed, inwardly cursing everything.

When Rubick entered the living room, Kael and Magina were sitting at the couch as if nothing was amiss but their body language spoke of tension, and their faces were gloomy. But this kind of gloom was their shared personal trait so Rubick did not see anything strange about it and said, “I must’ve left my papers in the library…”

Kael sprang to his feet.

“Fine, come on, quick!” he said and headed to the stairs, not even waiting for Rubick. Rubick was a little caught off guard by the haste so it took him a couple more seconds to finally move and catch up with Kael.

Magina stared into the fireplace without any idea of what had just happened. He still was aroused, the hot images dancing before his eyes. At the same time, he was devastated by the fact they were no longer real. He felt hurt to death by Kael’s abandoning him like that. Couldn’t he use the wind’s force to slam the door shut? Or, say, put an ice wall at the entrance so that Rubick would not get in? Of all the time in the world, that damned Rubick had to pick the worst possible moment for returning home! Why did he always have to ruin everything? Magina felt as if he were a hungry beast, who had been teased with a tidbit for a long time, but then the feeding hand drew away, not giving him the treat. ‘Nah-ah, you won’t get anything!’

Meanwhile, the clock showed that he had only thirty minutes left before the work started. Magina stood up with restraint, clenched his hands into white-knuckle fists, and went off to the kitchen to grab something and get ready for work. The intrusive thoughts from the previous day flooded his head with full force, now fed on by anger and frustration. An idea occurred on his mind, that he could go upstairs and bust the hell out of the library, but, of course, he would never actually do that. Besides, he did not want to see Rubick again. He left the house and walked off at a brisk pace, almost running. While he was walking, he did not cast a single glance at his home. 

Magina was mad at himself for letting Rubick stay over. He was mad at Kael for inviting him and being so eager to spend the whole day with him. He was mad at Rubick for travelling to the town that was not supposed to be found so easily, for attracting Kael’s attention, and for existing in the first place. At some point, he caught himself being mad even at Lex as she was the one who had shown Rubick a way to their home. How pathetic it was, to stoop to such low emotions!

It occurred to him, that he could have just killed Rubick earlier in his life, and there would have been no problems. He was capable of it at the present moment, too, but he could not do it, at least without a good reason. Deep down, he knew that jealousy was not a good reason: if Kael wanted to leave, he would have left, even in the event all the more promising partners were dead. Besides, back in the day, when their journey had only started, Magina himself rejected Kael and tried being around other people. Kael did not kill any of them, nor did he drag Magina back into their relationship. He respected Magina’s choice. It meant that Magina had to respect Kael’s choice, too, whatever it was. And he did respect. But the only thought of a possible break-up hurt him like hell.

At work, he realized that he was completely broken by that accident, the sleep deprivation, and the painful thoughts. And, above all, Kael did not cast the spell upon him. This would only aggravate Magina’s condition; his mind was somewhere else, far away from the papers on his table. Hearing a knock on the door, he shuddered: Elke came to him with new reports. She lay them on the table and went on telling and explaining something in a chipper voice, as usual; Magina could not listen to her, no matter how much respect he had for the worker, he only managed nodding with a serious look. She did not seem to notice anything so Magina felt relieved. Least of all things he wanted her to learn about his problems.

But before leaving, Elke asked, “By the way, have you chosen the gift?”

Magina only managed to say, “No.”

“Oh, but the celebration is tomorrow!” Elke noted with a slight concern. But she returned to her usual lively mood very soon. “In that case, you still have a chance to visit the new store at the intersection of the Fiery and the Builders’ streets! Have you been there yet?”

“No,” Magina said but quickly added, so as not to arouse suspicion with his abrupt answers, “but I will go there after work.”

“Okay,” Elke nodded.

She still had an incredulous look but Magina was lucky that she did not ask him anything. She instead wished, “Have a happy New Year!”

“Thanks, you too have a happy New Year!” Magina replied with a faint smile.

Elke left, and he got down on the papers with a loud huff. Little by little, he made himself work despite the weight on his heart. He barely managed to understand what the documents were about and felt bad for not listening to Elke. He decided to visit that new store to make up for it.

To get to the Builders’ street, he had to traverse the main square of the town. In the middle of the square there stood a blue spruce with glowing decorations — it was not cut down, rather grown right in that place — and next to it was located a crowded skating rink. This whole celebration-for-all atmosphere only depressed Magina even more as he was sure that he and Kael would not go further than discussing the holiday because of how much time Kael was spending in Rubick’s company. He strode through the square with a surly face, crossed a slippery road, and ended up in front of a fancy sign that read, ‘Candyness’.

‘Bad pun,’ Magina noted, as he entered the shop with low expectations.

And suddenly the assortment made him lighten up. There wasn’t a thing they had not gotten! Even if Magina were not a sweet tooth, he was petrified, staring at the shelves; the store was an embarrassment of riches. The shop owner, an energetic female troll, took notice of his confusion and laid out more expensive candies from the stash to offer him to taste some of them. Magina pretended to be an expert and went on scrutinizing every piece, trying to pick something not pricey yet fancy enough for Kael. Like tangerine slices with chocolate and pistachio topping, for example. Or round cookies of various colors; Magina picked specifically those that were covered with blue, pink, and yellow glaze. Or a chocolate figurine of Roshan — wow, how was he famous even in such a distant place? And, finally, marzipan candies.

He took a little of everything. The shop owner packed every kind of sweets separately and put all the packages into one red bag of medium size. No matter how hard Magina had tried to avoid her tricks and save some money, he still ended up paying a decent amount of gold but he was satisfied. At the same time, he got anxious: was it worth it to buy a gift for Kael? Given all the circumstances, he really was afraid that his gesture would be disregarded or left unnoticed. What if only Magina cared about it? What if Kael was not going to celebrate anything? What if he planned on disappearing together with Rubick for the whole day?

Magina stopped in the middle of the square and gazed around only to see gloomy pictures that his mind envisioned for him.

‘Stop whining!’ he ordered to himself. ‘What has been bought cannot be returned! I’ll just go home, hide everything in the basement, and then I’ll wait and see.’

A bit of self-discipline helped him to put his mind in order, and he went home with a set objective to hide the gift. He opened the door as quietly as possible; seeing that there was nobody on the first floor, he hurried into the basement. In the basement, Magina and Kael kept not only and not quite food — food could be left right on the table because Kael was able to freeze it. Most of the space was stuck with weapons and magic artifacts, sorted in cases under lock and key. With the bag hid away in a place where Kael could not accidentally spot it in case he walked into the basement, Magina came up to the wall, where his precious axe of Battle Fury was hanging, and slid his fingers down the handle. He did not miss the time when he had to hold the weapon permanently but he did love to wield that axe… a priceless work of art! With a sigh, he glanced upon the rest of the basement contents and hurried upstairs so that he would not get stuck there for long hours, admiring the blades.

He went to the upper floor and found Kael and Rubick in the library, just as expected. The door was wide open so Magina entered the room without hesitation but they did not notice him right away. When they did though, they suddenly went silent.

“Um… what’s up?” Magina said, somehow irritated by that circumstance.

Kael gazed upon him and perked up.

“Oh… you won’t believe what gift I have received!” he said.

With this, he took a book from the table and handed it over to Magina; the latter accepted it and carefully opened the front page.

“Wow!” Magina exclaimed, when he read the title. “I have heard of this book but never seen it because people everywhere buy it in a matter of minutes… oh, is it the original?! Whoa! Who is that generous person?”

“Yes, Magina, it was indeed hard to get but there’s nothing impossible for me,” Rubick replied, proudly. “The current year is ending tomorrow, isn’t it? So, I have decided to give a gift to Kael — and to you, if you like reading — as a sign of my gratitude for providing a place to sleep…”

A smile quickly disappeared from Magina’s face. Of course… Rubick had to beat him even there! What were candies in comparison to a special edition of “The Roshan Expedition”? With a long face, he sat on the couch. He secretly wished that Kael would sit next to him but he remained standing at the table and chatting with Rubick. Magina was again a third wheel. After a while, maybe in half an hour, he slowly stood up and walked away without explanations.

He sat down at the stairs in the basement, the red bag in his hands, and threw a marzipan candy into the mouth, brooding over things. He was tired of conflicting emotions. He did not know if there was anything left to do for him. No, he knew: he should have talked to Kael. But Magina was not even sure he would manage to catch him alone. Deep down, he was afraid of the possible answers to his worrying questions. He was afraid that everything would come to an end very soon. That his new world would be shattered; that he would be thrown away, betrayed; that he would be reduced to hating as the only way to survive, again. But he and Kael had gone through so much! They fought together, they saved each other, they made it through the direst situations, they roamed around the world in search for a shelter… they even defeated the Dead God! It could not be forgotten, discarded, invalidated so easily…

Magina peeked into the bag.

‘Might as well just eat them all and pretend there was nothing,’ he decided. ‘Kael forgot about me anyway…’

But once his hand was inside of the bag, he heard a gentle knock from the upstairs.

“Magina, are you in there?” Kael asked, softly.

His voice startled Magina, causing him to close the bag and shove it into the farthest corner; a thought ran across his mind, that he did a right thing when he left the lights off, otherwise the red bag would be a little too conspicuous.

“Yes, I’m here.” He managed a casual reply.

Kael opened the door and made his way downstairs, his steps slow and cautious. As usual, his face betrayed nothing — the serenity itself. He sat down on the floor next to Magina and asked, “What are you doing here?”

“I was going to train,” Magina said.

“In your leisure wear?” the Invoker inquired.

“Yes, so?” Magina grumbled.

Kael examined him; after a short pause, he asked another thing, “Are you upset because of what happened in the morning?”

“Yes, but… ‘tis not only that,” Magina said, reluctantly, his gaze averted.

He could not say anything else: the words seemed to have stuck in the throat. But Kael took him by the hands and quietly asked, “Please, do not be silent. I can see you are not yourself these days, no matter how hard you try to hide it. Tell me. Is it somehow related to Rubick?”

Magina nodded, and Kael asked more, “So, you are disgusted by his presence because of his being a mage? Or is it because of your feud in the past?”

“None of that,” Magina replied.

Kael’s eyes grew wide of surprise. Magina finally managed to meet his gaze and formulate the question.

“Tell me the truth. What do you feel about him? What does he mean to you?”

“He is pretty smart, open-minded, pleasant to talk to,” Kael replied without thinking much, “I think I even respect him in spite of his quirks. We may have become friends again if we met more often.”

“Is he only a friend and nothing else?” Magina specified.

Kael was no fool; he caught on what this question was about. And, he appeared to be shocked.

“Magina…” he spoke, trying to keep his composure. “I am the strongest of all the mages, I am a beacon of knowledge blazing out across a black sea of ignorance, I am a genius writer, and I cannot find the right words to express how much you’ve just shocked me. This… this is just… damn it! Do you really think I have some feelings for Rubick? Just how have you come to such a conclusion?!”

He could not but snap at the final words, pronouncing them louder than intended, and squeeze Magina’s hands. He was not mad or outraged, he was actually surprised. That left Magina confused. If Kael indeed had an affair, would he show so much surprise? On the other hand, there was a chance that he was acting really well. But acting was out of his character, at least when it had to do with their relationship. In any case, Magina decided to stop guessing and tell him everything, and then come what may.

“I thought that because you were with Rubick all the time,” he said, “and you were very friendly with him, while I thought I was the only one you could be friendly with… you talked a lot about him, and you stopped paying attention to me… I even got an impression that you had a lot in common… he beats me in everything, and both of you can live forever, while I refused your offer again!-“

Magina cut himself short and groaned: he wanted to express his thoughts more clearly but everything got mixed up in his head, and he was too agitated to put the words into complete sentences. He was shaking so his voice almost shook, too, when he asked, “It would be so much better to spend the eternity with someone who had already embraced it, wouldn’t it?”

Not waiting for an answer, he turned away and murmured, “No, I’m sorry, I’m saying wrong things…”

“Magina…” Kael called him but Magina did not react.

All the worries and qualms, all the pain and exhaustion wanted to break out, and he could not hold them back anymore: his eyes ran with tears. He made not a single sound or move, he was just sitting there, his head down, while the tears were streaming down his face. All of a sudden Kael hugged him and pressed onto his chest. Magina clung onto him, his face buried into his shoulder. Kael was soothing him, stroking his head and his back, and that was everything Magina wanted at the moment because he had neither coherent thoughts, nor the will to express them; only desperation was there.

They sat in silence for a while until Magina said unexpectedly, “I don’t want to lose you.”

“You are not losing-” Kael started but Magina snapped, not listening to him.

“I am indeed a fool! When I was rejecting the eternity, I actually rejected you, and now you must be thinking: what am I doing here with this idiot? It would be so much simpler with Rubick, and now this stupid mage-hater is crying on my shoulder!”

“Enough, Magina!” Kael suddenly put him down, and Magina fell silent, tensing.

Kael drew his hands away and rubbed his eyes with a sleeve of his robes.

“What have I become?” he murmured with annoyance.

His tears did not escape Magina’s notice, and he said without thinking, “A human…”

Kael withdrew his hand from the face; their tear-stained gazes met. They both could not help smiling and then laughing. When Kael stopped laughing, he made a serious face again and spoke.

“Let me finally say my word, Magina. I can see your doubt and mistrust so I will try to be more precise. So, Rubick and me. I admit I have been focused on him but only because we have not heard from each other in many years. It was an unexpected meeting that brought some freshness into my measured lifestyle. I assume you would be just as glad, if you met your battle companion, for example. Frequent mentions of Rubick in my speech are logical because I have not had any other person to spend time with, therefore, I could not tell you about somebody else. The reason I have been telling you all of that is simply that I've no interest in lying to you, the only person in the world I can share everything with. You say that I’ve been spending whole days with him but, in fact, it would be impossible: he would always leave the house five-ten minutes later than you and return only an hour earlier. Turns out that most of the time I could communicate with him only in your presence, this is why you have gotten the impression that I’ve completely forgotten about you. But this is not true. In fact, I… I would not be able to forget about you even if I wished to.”

Hearing these words, Magina felt as if he were relieved from a huge rock on his neck, hanging and dragging him down, and now he could breathe freely. Because he suddenly felt so good, he jumped on Kael and squeezed him in his arms, spluttering,

“I am so sorry, Kael! It was so stupid of me- that was exactly my thought at first but then- I shouldn’t have distrusted you- you too have a right to make friends, you can’t always - no, I don’t mean that- arrrgh well, I don’t know how to phrase that!”

Magina wanted to curse his being over-emotional that prevented him from making his message clear. But Kael gave him a reassuring smile and patted him on the mohawk, replying, “’Tis alright, Magina. I had hundreds of years to learn how to articulate my thoughts perfectly; you, on the other hand, had way less time. But I understand you.”

“If hundreds of years can teach me how to speak, then may this cantrap be cast upon me,” Magina grunted with vexation.

That earned him a disapproving look from Kael; the latter shook his head.

“This is what I wanted to talk about,” he continued. “I shouldn’t have put pressure on you. The Sempiternal Cantrap is not an easy trick; it is a complicated ritual, dangerous even, and not everyone is ready for it. I would like to- to ask for your apology. I did not realize before how- how selfish of me it was.”

Kael swallowed, making Magina realize that he was nervous; his hands went on fingering through the strands of Kael’s long blond hair. Kael kept talking.

“I do not want you to accept my proposal only because you are afraid of parting with me, tired of always having to say ‘no’, feel awkward for your imperfect speaking skills, or something in the vein of that. I do not want your decision to be rash or forced. It must be a real consent, a sincere desire based on mutual trust. I can see that your trust for me is still shaking, and it can be explained, can be understood — you need more time to become certain about our bond. I said it many times: I do not propose to learn the secret of such a powerful cantrap to anyone. But, at last, I am ready to accept your refusal if you come to a conclusion that you’re better off without that. I won’t bring this up again, I will leave it entirely to you. In the event we have only several dozens of years instead of eternity, I shall never leave you as we’ll have so much to do in such a little pinpoint of time!”

There he reached out for Magina’s face, making him lift his head in respond to the gentle touch. Their eyes met; Kael cupped Magina’s cheek and said, “You cannot escape me so easily, Anti-Mage.”

His lips curled into the dear, long since loved smirk, and Magina could not help smiling in reply: the Invoker still remained the Invoker despite everything.

“Thank you,” he said, laying his hand on top of the Invoker’s, “thank you for understanding and explaining everything in detail. I should have talked to you earlier…”

“Should have,” Kael pointed out with a slight frown. “I do hope that you will henceforth talk to me directly instead of hiding in the dark basement.”

“Sorry about this again…” Magina apologized.

“No, I understand,” Kael sighed. “Upon revisiting the whole situation in my mind, I can see: we had to overcome a plethora of hurdles and contradictions before we realized the importance of our bond, and after that, we saw nobody around except for each other for a long time. Or more exactly, it was not so much time for me but you indeed percept it as quite a long term. It was only natural that you felt jealous when another person showed up. I am sorry for making you worry about it so much.”

“You should tell me more about your past life, don’t you think so?” Magina reproached him.

“I admit my mistake,” Kael agreed, guiltily. “I am still not used to sharing details of bygone days, and I cannot recall every single thing…”

“If anything, I do not mind your friendship with Rubick or somebody else,” Magina clarified, “moreover, when I see that your motives are pure. I was simply disoriented; I was confused and scared that I would lose you… I would not try to limit your freedom. I respect your choice, too, even if it’s not in my favor.”

Kael suddenly snorted, “Are you still talking about it in present tense? After all my explanations?”

But hardly had Magina got a chance to answer, when Kael grabbed him by the shoulders and bent forward so close that they near bumped into each other’s foreheads.

“Magina, I love you,” he said in a clear and precise manner.

“I love you, Kael,” Magina breathed out in response, his heart shrinking in the chest with tingling sensations, caused by Kael’s presence, by the overwhelming affection towards him.

And there, out of the blue, a foreign rustling sound broke into their little world, and they both jerked their heads up. That was Lex, who climbed upstairs and ran out of the basement.

“All the time, she has been here…” Magina was dumbfounded. “She… she eavesdropped!”

Kael only gave it a dismissive wave.

“It doesn’t matter,” he said, “she cannot speak anyway. What about emotion though… it is not much of a secret.”

“You know, you actually left Rubick all alone in the library…” Magina mused.

“And you are telling me I cannot stop talking about him,” Kael teased.

“No, I mean, I’m afraid lest he should steal something,” Magina elaborated.

“Magina, I am no fool to leave my treasures in the open,” Kael said, confidently. “You know, Rubick may steal anything, be it a nice book or my hat, or even my spells…”

In that instant, Kael looked Magina right into the eyes and finished, “But he can never steal my feelings for you.”

“Kael!” Magina gasped; the words he had just heard seemed to have taken his breath away.

On top of that, he realized they were still pretty close to each other. He reached out for Kael’s face and fisted his hair, while Kael was hugging him tighter around the waist. It was followed by a kiss, full of care and tenderness, and the furious destructive tornado in Magina’s heart was finally calmed down. They were kissing slowly, reaffirming their feelings, and they would not let go of each other until it seemed enough to both of them.

When they were walking out of the basement, Kael remembered,

“Tomorrow is the 31st… Magina, I think I haven’t told you but I’ve come up with an idea for our celebration.”

‘No way! He remembered about it!’ Magina felt overjoyed.

“What exactly?” he asked.

The Invoker replied with a mischievous smile, “This shall remain a mystery until tomorrow.”

Then he walked away to the stairs. Magina gave him an intrigued look and said, “Can’t wait!”

* * *

Rubick did not waste his time. When the Anti-Mage suddenly darted off, and the Invoker later decided to go away as well, dropping a short “if you please excuse me”, Lex perked up her ears and followed him, silently. He seemed to have not noticed it as he was too perturbed by his own emotion. Rubick was left all alone in the library. The Invoker’s steps ceased, he stood up from the table with a thievish look and went on rummaging through all the bookshelves. The Invoker did not favor other people touching his books without asking but how could one resist? Rubick was overjoyed at that collection.

After looking through everything he was interested in, his attention was captured by an oblong chest under the window. For anybody else, the chest was absolutely inconspicuous but Rubick had detected it the very first time he had entered the library. It piqued his curiosity because the Invoker seemed to have hid something important in there. Otherwise why would he always sit at the side of the table that was closer to the window? Why would he lock the door into the library at night?

Moreover, Rubick was restless due to the contradictory rumors about his father’s legendary scepter. It was widely considered that the Aghanim’s Scepter had long been lost in battles, repeatedly stolen and smuggled from one kingdom to another. But some people speculated that it was seized by the Invoker. That was unlikely — and Rubick came to the town with an entirely different intention — but he actually met the Invoker there, he might check on those rumors as well…

So Rubick attempted to break the lock on the chest. As expected, the lock was under a spell.

‘It will need some work!’ he sighed.

He could get along with the Invoker really well but he still wanted to take what was rightfully his. He was trying all the combinations possible but he always failed unlocking the chest. He was so engrossed in the process that he near jumped when Lex meowed somewhere near him.

“You scared me to death!” he cried, his hand on the heart.

Lex ran up to him, leaped onto his lap, and stared him in the eye. Rubick established a contact with here and was bewildered by the flood of mixed-up emotions.

“Dear Lord! All this grieving, agony, uncertainty, and even these tears — all of that because of me?” he gaped, running a gentle hand down Lex’s spine. “So… jealousy, right? But why me?!”

He let out an awkward laugh. Imagine, he was so focused on his work at the university and took his friendship with Kael as granted that he did not even notice he was hurting the Anti-Mage.

‘That’s no good,’ he thought, ‘I did not even think of it, I was only trying to be as nice as possible…’

His inner dialogue was interrupted by a deliberate pat on his shoulder. His blood ran cold.

“Must be uncomfortable to sit on the floor, Rubick,” the Invoker told him.

Rubick turned around, lifting his head, and giggled, nervously.

“I was just playing with my kitten,” he made an excuse.

Of course, that phrase should not have sounded as an excuse. Next to the Invoker, there stood the Anti-Mage, and Rubick noticed that they were holding hands.

'It means that everything is alright!' he concluded with relief.

The Anti-Mage went on chatting with the Invoker, and while he was distracted, Rubick took his chance to let go of Lex, stand up, and walk away from the chest as far as possible. The Invoker did not even glance at him; did it really go unnoticed? But when the three of them were about to leave the library, the Invoker suddenly remembered something and asked to wait. He approached that very chest and unlocked it in a matter of seconds; Rubick craned his neck in an attempt to examine the contents of the chest, and what he saw left him discouraged. It contained various paraphernalia, possibly valuable, but the scepter was definitely not there!

“I simply want to pin it up,” he commented, putting his hair in a ponytail with the glistening clasp, as he gave Rubick a smirk. Rubick felt very uncomfortable about that.

During the dinner, the Invoker behaved as usual; he was friendly but Rubick now realized that getting on his bad side was easier than ever. He had a guilty conscience because of his initial intention to rummage through Kael’s personal belongings. Apparently, the Invoker did not really have the Scepter, and it left Rubick without a lead, in the dark again. The thought of it made him a little sad.

Anyway, his time in that town was coming to an end…

* * *

Rubick left the house the next morning. When he was about to depart, he suddenly pulled both Kael and Magina into a hug. Magina was already embarrassed by that gesture but Rubick, as if it were not enough, went on endless apologizing before him for all the bad deeds that he had and had not done, calling him ‘a wonderful person’, and wishing all the best to him and Kael; all those things left Magina dumbfounded. Lex, too, joined their hugging trio: she was walking from Rubick to Magina and back and nuzzled her head against their legs. When Rubick let go of Magina and Kael, he lifted the cat up and wagged his finger at her, jokingly.

“Oh, you defector!”

Magina looked at the cat, and a realization came upon him that he would even miss the calico fluffy spy. When Rubick and Lex went out of his sight, Magina decided to go back to bed: it was finally the weekend, and he had not got enough sleep in the past few days and was tired even now. Kael lay together with him, just for company, clasping his arms over him. So they both fell asleep in each other’s embrace.

They near slept through the lunch, and when they were awake and dressed, they fell back into the pillows and blankets as they agreed that they did not want to go out and see crowds of people. Moreover, they both realized they were now alone, and no one could bother them. They were lying there, their arms and legs entwined, chatting and caressing each other idly; there was no need to hurry. Slowly, the drowsiness was leaving them, and they started making out, then undressing each other…

By the time they left their bedroom, it had already been dark outside, and Magina remembered about Kael’s promise but Kael shook his head with a short ‘later’. He called the Spirits and ordered them to clean up, while he would join Magina in cooking the dinner. Magina was agreeably surprised that Kael had a clear idea of what was easy to cook yet festive enough for the evening. As an appetizer, they would have radish sliced in the shape of water-lilies and stuffed with cottage cheese and red caviar; the meal was going to be a roasted turkey with honey, the dessert — fruit canapes, and the drinks — red wine and punch. After only a couple of hours, their abode became neat and tidy, and the living room was rather festive-looking thanks to the temporarily replaced kitchen table, full of viands, and the colorful ribbons and orbs that were hanging down from the ceiling. Looking at that, Kael and Magina agreed that they should dress up accordingly. 

Kael picked flamboyant yet stylish robes, in which different shades of purple were combined with white and gold patterns, while Magina opted for total black but added a dark-violet mantle with red parts, that had shining edges and a round clasp on the front. Both of them froze in fascination, watching each other; when they came back to earth, they hurried into the living room and made themselves comfortable in front of the fireplace. While Magina was eating, Kael pulled out a small red velvet box out of his pocket and handed it over to him.

“I recall you saying something about small gifts.”

Magina stopped mid-chew and stared at Kael in daze.

“What is it?” A question escaped his lips on its own accord when he accepted the box.

“Something you have long been looking for,” Kael answered without hesitation.

Magina opened the box, and his eyes grew wide in surprise.

“It… it is the Ring of Tarrasque!” he exclaimed, as he withdrew the red ring from its pillow. “Is it really?!”

“Exactly it is,” the Invoker confirmed.

Magina put the ring on his finger right away, and it gleamed; he felt energized from the wholesome effect of the artifact.

“Where did you get that?” Magina asked, baffled. “Certainly not in the town…”

“I had to take a risk and teleport to one of the item shops.”

“But when?”

“The day before yesterday.”

'But he was with Rubick then and returned home late…' Magina pondered, putting his hand on the chin. And then he had a flash. 'Was he late because of that?!'

Magina glanced at Kael, dumbfounded, while the latter looked very proud. He was so overjoyed that he spread his arms wide and locked Kael in embrace.

“This is a wonderful surprise, Kael,” he said with emotion.

But Kael all of a sudden argued, “No, you are wrong. It is not the surprise yet.”

“How is it not?!” Magina let go of him, indignant. “What is there, anyway?”

“I told you, you’ll see yourself,” Kael sighed. “No patience, young man.”

“I actually, too, have-” Magina stopped short, not knowing if he should tell. But he gathered himself up and finished, “I have something for you as well. Wait here, I’ll be right back.”

He stood up and blinked to the basement door, praying for the bag to be alright. Having made sure that the sweets were intact and, most importantly, did not melt, he went upstairs and jumped back to the living room.

“Not sure if it’s of equal value to your gift but anyway.”

With these words, he presented Kael with the bag. Kael immediately untied it and delved into it.

“One of my favorites!” he said in amazement when he took the tangerine slices. “Ha-ha, if it isn’t the good ole Roshan! Oh, did you specifically select the colors to match my orbs? Wait, this is something I love, too!”

As Kael was turning over the contents of the bag and commenting on every single thing, Magina’s heart fluttered from happiness. Finally, when Kael brought the marzipan candies to the light and inspected them, he said, “A shame that three of them are missing.”

“Wait… how do you know?” Magina asked, suspiciously.

“Yesterday kisses tasted like marzipan,” the Invoker grinned.

At first, Magina got bashful because of his obvious failure but then he laughed.

“Sorry, I was sad,” he said, shrugging.

And there he got an idea. He took one of the candies and asked, enticingly, “You want some?”

“Yes, please,” Kael agreed, giving him an interested look.

So Magina broke the candy in two. One half went into his mouth, and the other was handed to Kael. But Kael grabbed on his wrist and pulled his hand closer to the mouth to take the candy with his tongue, while slightly pressing his lips against the fingers. Then he moved away and hemmed with a smug smile.

“Aw, Kael…” Magina chuckled, watching the Invoker chew the candy with dedication.

He ate his half, too, and then he reached out for Kael’s face to tickle him under the chin. In response to this touch, Kael squinted and lifted his head, thus giving Magina more access to his neck.

“Come here,” Magina whispered, and Kael complied, drawing closer to him and embracing his neck.

Magina put his hands on Kael’s waist; their lips and tongues met in soft and gentle touch. That kiss was not only sweet as in ‘cute’, or sweet as in ‘sweet’, but it was tender, heartwarming, and simply beautiful in every possible way. However… could kissing with Kael be not beautiful?

At last, Magina was sure that Kael really liked his present, and there could never be a mention of ‘cheapness’ or ‘unequal value’. Kael took everything out on the table so that he and Magina could feast together. With the meal they had cooked, it was very delicious, and when they were done with eating, Kael stood up. He extended his hand to Magina, saying, “Come with me.”

‘Finally, the surprise!’ An excited thought rushed through Magina’s mind when he grabbed Kael by the hand. Kael led him to the foyer, where he wrapped himself in the winter coat. Magina followed suit, wondering where Kael wanted to take him. Putting on a deep purple pointed hat with blue, pink, and yellow decorative shards on its edges, the Invoker slid his hand into the pocket and pulled out a fresh-looking scroll; when he unrolled it, Magina recognized his handwriting and the teleportation formula.

“Is it far?” he wondered.

“I’d rather say ‘high’,” Kael answered, arousing even more curiosity from Magina.

Hardly had Magina asked another question, when the Invoker pulled out another scroll and handed it over to him, saying, “We need to hurry.”

They went outside and locked the door. Magina unrolled his scroll and read it aloud, exchanging looks with Kael. In a matter of seconds, they both were gone and appeared at an absolutely unknown, at the first sight, place. The air was filled with darkness born out of the night and dense rows of trees, while the ground was covered with gleaming snow, untouched by a living creature. Magina looked around and found Kael almost immediately as he landed behind him after the teleportation. Without a word, Kael extended a hand to him and led him uphill. Soon the trees became sparse, and Magina found themselves standing at the edge of a cliff, surrounded by dark-blue skies with myriads of stars; down there, amidst the fields and woods gleaming with white, was situated their town, and it seemed so small in spite of all its suburbs. Magina was staring at it with fascination until he got distracted by a careful touch on his palm. He turned his head to meet Kael’s gaze.

“Soon begins the new age of knowledge,” he informed with a smile.

“How do you know?” Magina asked.

But there was no need to answer: a moment afterwards, he heard bells chiming, which meant that it was midnight. The sound was barely audible due to its remoteness but it was followed by fireworks flaring up in the sky one after another. Kael squeezed Magina’s hand tightly, interlacing their fingers, and they leaned onto each other, enjoying the view. When everything died down, they exchanged looks and silently hugged each other. They stood like that, snuggling to each other, for a long time but they did not feel the cold around them at all thanks to Kael’s being precautious enough to invoke three Exorts that would provide some warmth for him and Magina. At some point, they broke the embrace, and Kael inclined his head to look Magina in the eye.

“Are you happy?” he asked, running his fingertips down Magina’s cheek.

“Yes,” Magina replied without hesitation, and it was only confirmed by the appearance of his sincere smile. “Are you?”

“You know the answer: always when I am with you,” Kael said with a smile, too, and involuntarily averting his gaze: no matter how calm his voice sounded, he was fluttering deep inside.

They leaned their foreheads against each other’s and closed their eyes, holding their hands.

“I love you,” Magina heard Kael’s hushed voice.

He squeezed his hands tighter and replied, “I love you, too.”

_That was how they stepped into the new year of their life together, full of hope, love, and the ever-growing mutual trust._


End file.
